Enforcement Directorate

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Directorate General of Economic Enforcement
)

Enforcement Directorate
प्रवर्तन निदेशालय
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance
Website
enforcementdirectorate.gov.in
This article is part of a series on the
Politics of India
Government
  • Cabinet secretary
Parliament
Minister Pralhad Joshi
Judiciary
Elections and political parties
  • State Assembly elections
Administrative divisions
Federalism
  • Judiciary
Foreign relations
  • Policy Of India
flag India portal

The Directorate of Enforcement or Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a domestic

black money
and to ensure compliance with the laws concerning foreign exchange and prevention of money laundering.

The origin of the ED goes back to 1 May 1956, when an "enforcement unit" was formed, within the Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. In 1957, the unit was renamed as the Enforcement Directorate.[3]

Objective

The prime objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of three key Acts

Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), and The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018
(FEOA).

Organisational structure

The Directorate of Enforcement, with its headquarters at New Delhi, is headed by the director of enforcement. There are five regional offices at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, and Delhi headed by special directors of enforcement.

Zonal offices of the directorate are at Pune, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Panaji, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, and Srinagar.[5] These are headed by a joint director.

The directorate has sub-zonal offices at Mangaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Kozhikode, Indore, Madurai, Nagpur, Allahabad, Raipur, Dehradun, Ranchi, Surat, Shimla, Vishakhapatnam and Jammu[5] which are headed by a deputy director.

Special courts

For the trial of an offence punishable under

High Court for that jurisdiction.[6]

Conviction rate

ED has so far lodged 5906 Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), resulting in arrest of 513 persons

Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the last nine years, 29 cases resulted in convictions. This equates to a conviction rate of 93.54%,[8] which exceeds the national conviction rate for offenses under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which stood at 57% in 2021.[9]

Criticisms

The cases by ED have gone up six times in

BJP told the opposition, "keep quiet, or ED may may arrive at your home"[12][13]

Acts of parliament governing the ED

Internal structure

Directorate of Enforcement is having following hierarchy of the officers; Assistant Enforcement Officer-Enforcement Officer-Assistant Director-Deputy Director-Joint Director-Special Director-Director. However, with increasing workload and to adjust the hierarchical needs other designations like additional director are also introduced. Directorate recruits officers as Assistant Enforcement Officer (AEO). AEOs are promoted to various levels of hierarchy and serve the Directorate of Enforcement throughout their career however a large chunk of officers are taken on deputation at various level and they remain on temporary basis in ED for 2 to 5 years.

ED's Arrest Powers Limited: SC

On 27 July 2022, The Supreme Court of India upheld the provisions of the act and retained the powers of the Enforcement Directorate under the PMLA,[15][16][17] which was criticised for putting the personal liberty of citizens at risk by the undue process allowed by the provisions of PMLA.[18][19]

On 22 August 2022, Supreme Court accepted a petition to review its 27 July 2022 judgement which upheld core amendments made to the PMLA.[20] On 25 August 2022, Supreme Court said that two provisions need reconsideration: 1.) not providing a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report to the accused, and 2.) reversal of the presumption of innocence.[21]

On August 21, 2023, in a significant ruling, the

Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The apex court's decision came in response to the case presented by V. Senthil Balaji and liquor syndicate racket in Chhattisgarh. Emphasizing the importance of adhering to the rule of law, the Supreme Court stated that the ED cannot operate as "a law unto itself." This landmark judgment underscores the boundaries of power and authority vested in the ED, ensuring checks and balances in its operations.[22][23]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Official Website". Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. ^ "ED (Enforcement Directorate)". Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Organisational History". Enforcement Directorate. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Directorate of Enforcement". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  5. ^ a b "ED (Enforcement Directorate)". Directorate of Enforcement. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020.
  6. ^ "ED website - FAQ". directorateofenforcement. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Statistics | Directorate of Enforcement". enforcementdirectorate.gov.in. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  8. ^ Press Trust of India (24 July 2023). "Over 93% conviction rate in money laundering cases in 9 years: Govt". Business Standard. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  9. ^ "NCRB Crime Statistics 2022 Vol 3" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2023.
  10. ^ "ED Action Has Increased Dramatically Under Modi Govt, Parliament Reply Reveals". The Wire. 26 July 2022. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Opposition's Case Against "Misuse Of Agencies" Rejected By Supreme Court". NDTV. 5 April 2023. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  12. ^ "'Keep Quiet Or ED May Arrive At Your Home': Meenakshi Lekhi Warns Oppn During Debate Over Delhi Ordinance Bill (WATCH)". Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  13. YouTube
  14. ^ @Digitalhindi (3 January 2023). "What is ED and ED Full Form". Archived from the original on 4 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  15. ^ Sarda, Kanu (18 August 2022). "Explained: Supreme Court's big verdict on Prevention of Money Laundering Act". India Today. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  16. ^ Rajagopal, Krishnadas (27 July 2022). "Supreme Court upholds powers of arrest, raids, seizure under PMLA". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Supreme Court upholds powers of Enforcement Directorate". The Telegraph Online. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  18. ^ Ramakrishnan, Nitya (3 August 2022). "Undue Process: Here's What's Wrong With the Supreme Court's PMLA Judgment". The Wire. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Narrow view: On the Supreme Court's PMLA verdict". The Hindu. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  20. ^ Rajagopal, Krishnadas (22 August 2022). "Supreme Court agrees to list petition for review of the judgment that upheld PMLA amendments". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  21. ^ Scroll Staff (25 August 2022). "PMLA verdict: Supreme Court says two aspects of judgement need reconsideration". Scroll.in. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  22. ^ "ED officials not police officers, can't make arrests under PMLA: TN Minister Senthil Balaji tells SC". The Indian Express. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  23. ^ "ED cannot be a law unto itself, says SC". Hindustan Times. 21 August 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2023.

External links